Art Case

                                    

I have been taking drawing and painting lessons for a couple of years and last week I got tired enough with carrying my art supplies forth and back to my lessons in a shopping bag that I made a travel case for my watercolour paints and equipment. The case is 15.5 by 17.5 by 4.5 inches, top and bottom are oak and sides basswood. I made the front and back from door skin.

  The box is definitely a prototype, and so I decided not to spend a bunch of money on hardware.  The handle is rope, wrapped in twine and it works pretty well.  Instead of buying a piano hinge I used a couple of hinges from shop supplies, they are nearly the right size and type. What I did buy was the latch, and it was a disappointment, I never really trusted it to keep the case closed.

 So, today I made new closures out of wood.

 I laid out the plan in two pieces of oak from my off cuts bin.  I drilled all the holes needed at once and then cut two of the cuts on the band saw. Then to cut the vertical lines I used my coping saw. Every shop needs to have a coping saw available.  My coping saw is the tool I turn to for small jobs, including cutting dovetails. 

 Initially I fitted the catches in place with clamps and glue.

I then drilled and screwed the pieces on to the case work.

  Each catch has a through hole drilled, into which a wooden pin slides holding both halves together like a hinge pin.  In this version the latches are a bit over engineered so when I make another art box I will have learned my lesson. I also plan to take the medal latch off this case, since it doesn't inspire trust anyway.

  For the next version I think I will not bother with oak, though strong,it is heavy and really stronger than this project needs. I will use a piano hinge and make the handle from leather instead of rope and most importantly, I'll make a smaller case.